See Also

Summer Session Course Offerings

BIOL048 HM – Science vs Pseudoscience

Instructor: Anna Ahn

The class will examine the process of science and contrast it with pseudoscience. Students will learn about the flaws in human thinking as we critically evaluate information and misinformation. Some major, biologically-relevant topics will be covered in more depth, such as placebo medicine and the anti-vaccine and anti-GMO movements. Additional pseudoscience topics will be determined by students, e.g., denialism, conspiracy theories, ESP, etc. The class will be taught from the perspective of a scientist.

Prerequisite: None

Class meets Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays 3:30 – 5:30 p.m.

ECON054 HM – Principles of Microeconomics

Instructor: Rebecca Johannsen

Provides methods of investigating the individual behavior of people, businesses, and governments in a market environment. Topics include elementary models of human economic behavior and resource allocation, and the evolution of market institutions and their impact upon society.

Prerequisite: High school students interested in taking this course should have a knowledge of algebra.

Prerequisites: CHEM023A HM & 023B HM, MATH030B/G HM, MATH040 HM, and PHYS024 HM, or equivalents (one year of general chemistry and one semester each of calculus, linear algebra, and mechanics, respectively.) High school students interested in taking the course should have completed AP-level coursework in chemistry, calculus, and physics (mechanics).

HIST150 HM – Technology and Medicine

Instructor: Vivien Hamilton

This course explores the increasingly technological nature of medicine in the 19th and 20th centuries, investigating the impact of new technologies on diagnostic practices, categories of disease, doctors’ professional identities, and patients’ understanding of their own bodies. Technologies studied include the stethoscope, electrotherapy devices, X-rays, ultrasound, and MRI.

Satisfies HMC HSA writing-intensive requirement. Course not open to high school students.

Prerequisite: None

Class meets Mondays and Wednesdays 7 – 10 p.m. Due to the campus closure on Memorial Day, an additional class session will be scheduled (TBA) with the time worked out between members of the class and the instructor.

MATH055 HM – Discrete Mathematics

Instructor: Dagan Karp

Topics include combinatorics (clever ways of counting things), number theory, and graph theory with an emphasis on creative problem solving and learning to read and write rigorous proofs. Possible applications include probability, analysis of algorithms, and cryptography.

MATH 178 HM – Nonlinear Data Analytics

Instructor: Weiqing Gu

In this course, we will cover analysis of nonlinear large dynamic data including but not limited from auto cars, cell phones, robots, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). We will start with visualizing such data using geometric methods. We then will represent such data in certain configuration spaces to capture the intrinsic non-linear relationship in the data. (For example, UAVs’ data including accelerometer and gyroscope data, obeys nonlinear kinematics and dynamics relationships, a curved 3-D sphere S3 can capture their rotations when we use unit quaternion representations. A traditional statistical correlation matrix cannot capture those nonlinear relations since a correlation matrix only captures linear relationships in the data.) We will then cover more advanced geometric data analysis techniques including nonlinear Riemannian (non-Euclidean) distances for modeling such big data problems (e.g. used for building a cost function). We will also demonstrate how to perform optimization techniques on such curved configuration spaces by extending optimization methods such as gradient descent and Newton’s method to such curved spaces. Finally, we will apply our learned techniques to solve real-world problems involving big nonlinear dynamic data.

PHIL121 HM – Ethical Theory

Instructor: Darryl Wright

A survey of contemporary philosophical thinking about morality, emphasizing how metaethical inquiry into the nature of “goodness,” “virtue” and “moral obligation” can inform normative inquiry into what is good and how to live. Attention is given throughout the course to the application of particular normative theories to personal decision-making and to contemporary social and political questions.

RLST114 HM – 2038 – Prophecy, Apocalypse

Instructor: Erika Dyson

This course looks at American configurations of the End Times, including, but not limited to, the ending of the Mayan calendar in 2012, Ghost Dance religions, Y2K predic­tions, The Church Universal and Triumphant, Heaven’s Gate, the Left Behind books and movies, and varied interpretations of the book of Revelation in the Christian Bible. Students taking this course will become familiar with various forms of American apocalyptic thinking as well as literature from “new religious movement” or “cult” scholarship in order to explore the enduring appeal of End Time scenarios and to question what makes these scenarios persuasive to individuals at varied points in American history.